Exercise Without End

Exercise Without End
by Brittani Tingle
These machines can go on and on. But should you?

We have what you’d call a love-hate relationship with the treadmill—love the calorie burn; the monotony, not so much. So when we found out that new takeoffs on the treadmill were showing up at clubs like Bally Total Fitness and Spectrum Athletic Clubs in California, we were skeptical. A climbing wall that never allows you to get more than two feet off the ground? A ladder to nowhere? A rope that you pull … and pull … and pull? How much fun could that be? We dispatched staffers to find out. And their reports have us wondering whether we should dump the treadmill for good.

Jacobs Ladder
What it is: A freestanding, 16-rung ladder tilted at a 40-degree angle. Gives you a full-body aerobic workout as you climb and burns nearly 800 calories an hour.

Tester’s take: “I really felt the burn in my butt. And I wasn’t bored like I thought I’d be, probably because the workout is so challenging. It takes a lot of balance and concentration.”

Get more info.

Treadwall
What it is: A 10-foot tall, motorless climbing wall that rotates on a belt like a treadmill (and takes up about the same amount of floor space), so you never get more than a couple of feet off the ground. Gives you a full-body workout and burns about 650 calories an hour.

Tester’s take: “Great for my hand-eye coordination. And I loved that you can vary the difficulty by changing the angle of the wall. Not much of a view from the top, though.”

Get more info.

Rope Pull
What it is: Much like the rope-climbing drill from grade school gym class (except you never leave the ground), this piece of equipment has you sit or kneel while pulling on a circulating length of rope. Works various upper-body muscles and burns about 650 calories an hour.

Tester’s take: “I want one for my living room! This gave me an unbelievable upper-body workout and was surprisingly easy on my shoulders.”